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Friday, March 02, 2012

the name game

I find it particularly adorable (among the many many things that I occasionally find adorable about my kids) that one of the first things Cal did after I told him that his new baby brother was, in fact, going to be a baby sister; was run to his room and get his dictionary. "So we can look up some girl names for the baby."

I looked at the cover of the Merriam-Webster. "Well, this is kind of a dictionary for...words, not really names, Cal."

"I know, but we can use it to get ideas."

So far names he has come up with:

GANA ("It's the country where my friend Qadir was born. Only I think where he was born has a letter 'H' in it too.")

MISO (No explanation for that one, but if you didn't instantly think "Miso Horny," well, then you and I are very different people.)

LUSHAN ("Because it sounds a little Chinese")

MUZIE (He also included an alternate spelling "MUZEE" in his notes--how thoughtful)

JULIA (The inexplicably normal name in his list--I think we had a little girl neighbor with that name a few moves ago who came over to play Wii bowling with him one time, and Cal was very impressed.)

Anyway, I didn't want to tell him "No way in hell" (at least to the first four) because, you know, I don't want to crush his dreams or anything, but I just said brightly that it was a very nice list to consider, and let's keep adding to it, shall we?

Cal and Mack are named Cal and Mack. I don't recall thinking that long and hard about their names, they were just names that I'd heard and I liked, and pretty much after we found out we were having boys, I asked, "How about Cal?" and Joe said "Great!" so there we were.

We don't have an elaborate child naming philosophy per se, but if there was any unifying factor, I'd say that Joe and I are drawn to names that are shorter and straightforward--less common but not of the completely made up variety--and seem to convey a sense of laid-back friendliness. They're both kind of nicknamey names (I have to tell people Cal isn't short for Calvin and Mack isn't short for Mackintosh or whatever, those are just the given names on their birth certificates) and in particular the fact that the names are somewhat less common have invited some less polite people (mostly via the Internet, not in real life thank goodness, at least not to my face) to be all, "Cal and Mack? The hell? What's your next kid going to be named? Zip? Pop? Jet? Nerp?" I don't think Cal and Mack are the most eccentric names I've ever heard, but I guess, to some people, they are.

I'd say the closest set of names that I've happened upon to match our aesthetic (and I haven't found this website until a few weeks ago, so we certainly didn't go by this list to name our kids) is this list on Nameberry of "relaxed names for boys." I think I had posted this link on my Twitter feed a few weeks ago--I just thought it funny because it proved that, indeed, we had some sort of underlying unifying theme for naming our kids, even if we hadn't thought that hard about it originally. I also find it somewhat amusing that the names "Joe" and "Moe" are also on that list--Joe is Joe, obvs, and "Mo" happens to be my Chinese nickname from childhood. We are related!

Anyway, we'd been looking at boy names, and I think in many ways, boys names are easier, because there's just less frill to many of them. Girls names, however, are more of a challenge. What's a short, friendly, not overused girl's name that fits with our first two kids? Joe and I came up with a few after Wednesday, but no easy favorites, and no slam dunks yet. Obviously, we have time, but we are planners. Us and Cal with his dictionary.

So internets, I turn to you. Give us some ideas. Some facts that may inform your brainstorming:

My parents are going to help us choose a Chinese middle name for the kid (Cal's middle name is "Leung-Han" and Mack's middle name is "Wei-Ping," both family names) so we don't know what that's going to be yet, but right now we just need a first name.

The kids take Joe's last name (which you can find here), and we don't hyphenate or do anything funny because my last name ("Au"--pay attention, people!) is just generally awkward for that kind of thing.

Joe's family is mostly Italian (there's some German/British extraction in there on one side too, which is why he looks...not so much Italian), and while we haven't really gone to that well for the boy's names yet, maybe, for a girl, it could be cute. (By the way, I asked Joe of there were any nice family names for girls on his side that he wanted to entertain, and he said...well, I'll just say he said no, that's polite, right?)

217 comments:

Oh lord, do I love talking baby names. My name is Lara, which I think may fall into your category. It's a bit feminine, even on me, and I'm not a very feminine lady. Short girls names I love: Alice, Cora, Nora, Nell, Tess, Elle, Petra, Bea, Wren, Adah, June, Tate, Fern, Calla. Yay names! So excited for you guys.

Sofia or Sofie could be thrown into the Italian ring, if you wanted to go that way. And they're definitely classic, AND I can tell you that as someone still in the world of pediatrics, not terribly common at the moment.

The first name that came to mind was "Deb," as in Deborah, but I'm not sure if you're willing to "nickname" for a girl. My mother's name was Karen. Bess? (Personally, I associate "Bessy" as a cow name, but you might not!) Ann? Liz?

My family is Italian, and one common girl's name is "Guiditta," which has mutated in every generation from "Guiditta" to "Judita" to "Judith." "Judy" would fit with Cal and Mack, but (personally) I'd be *very* hesitant to give a girl a diminutive for a name, without the option to use a non-diminutive as an adult. Off the top of my head, I can't think of any one-syllable Italian names.

BTW, I just found this site and it looks pretty cool for us Wellesley geeky-types: http://www.namepedia.org/en/firstname/Michelle_%286676%29/

It's funny, the biggest ferry company here in scotland is called CalMac (short for caledonian macbrayne)... but everyone calls it CalMac. (Maybe you can get your boys an endorsement deal ;) For girls, I would second previous commenters' votes for Bea and Mae, both lovely. Or maybe Iona (a popular name in scotland & also an Island off the west coast. You can get there on the CalMac ferry (ha!). (though, careful when venturing into choosing scottish islands as names... there's also a Muck, Eigg, and Rum...)

I just had twin girls so I've given this a lot of thought lately. We named one of our girls June, which I think works well with your namIng criteria. Short, not too common, not too weird, good midcentury vibe. I love it, obvs.

I also second the suggestion of Mae. I fell in love with Mae, but...twins named Mae & June? I'm not that cruel.

You should check out Nymbler.comOne woman decided to map cultural linkages between names (think Kevin Bacon) to be able to suggest baby names and the idea eventually became a book and website. Ex. "If you have a son named Cal, perhaps you'll like..." You can enter in your favorite names and it will keep suggesting names, refining the suggestions as you give it feedback (think Pandora).

Mae is my great-grandmother's name so I'm partial to that choice (Her first and middle name is Mae Vern). I also like Dawn.If I would of had another girl I wanted to name her Celeste after another great-grandmother...but it didn't happen.

These may or may not be mentioned already, but I thought I'd toss my two cents into the ring...KateMarieBrynnJayeMaeveElleLogan (love this as a girl's name)BrookeAliceZoeyClariceSaramaeLaneCamille (Cam or Cami for short)

I LOVE IT! And a lot of the names that you guys are suggesting (just off the top of my head: Tess, Mae, Bea, Eva/Ava, etc.) are actually on our list (our real list, not that Cal courtesy list) so we'll see

Thought you might like to know the names that we had lined up for the boy we thought we were going to have. We were basically down to BEN (not Benjamin, but BEN), which we both liked, and BEAU, which we loved (a little less common, also has a sort of old-timey southern charming feel). Anyway, that's for you boy namers out there.

I actually have a name in my pocket that I like the best of all that I think meets our criteria but no one has yet mentioned. But I'm still in the process of selling that name to Joe, so we'll see. It may well get supplanted by something you guys suggest instead.

My son really wanted to name his baby sister so we let him call her whatever he wanted in utero (he chose Violet) but then explained to him that the parents name the kids and the kids can name the pets. Hierarchy, we love you in medicine and in our home.

Also, there is a book called "Cool Names for Babies" (http://www.amazon.com/Names-Babies-Pamela-Redmond-Satran/dp/031237786X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330715589&sr=8-1) That gives a lot of older names and names based on abbreviations. Besides a slightly obnoxious title it really is good--we choose names for both our kids from it.

I give Cal props for his initiative and he could always end up as a baby namer to the stars! 28 or so years ago I wanted to name my baby sister Lavern - after Lavern and Shirley! That was vetoed by my parents pretty quick. Congrats on the baby girl.

I love Anne, Tess, Lucy, Kate. Traditional but more uncommon (well, except for kate). I ADORE Beau--I was trying to figure out how to talk my husband into naming our last baby Beau, but I had to stick with our two-syllable first name pattern since it was baby #4. Good luck! Please let us all know when you decide :)

Huh. For a month after our baby daughter was born, NO girls' names sounded OK to me. And I'd seen all the names above. Now quite a few of them seem really nice. (We called her "baby" and it was driving my husband nuts. In the end, we named her what we'd thought we would name her before I was pregnant, what he would have called her from the start.)

My daughter has a classmate named Tess in preschool. It does have a nice sound to it. The teachers do often call her Tessie though. They also call Pavel Pavie, so at least they're not discriminating on the basis of gender.

Beatrix? I like Alex and Sam for gender neutrality. But if you keep the long version, she can use that when it's helpful not to be ambiguous. Abi? I have a friend called that. Doesn't like it when people assume it's short for Abigail or something.

Could call her Mo. Around here that's usually short for Maureen, I think.

My daughter's name is Fern, and since I don't know you and live on the other side of the country, I would be happy to share it. :) We get tons of compliments on it. My criteria were that it be an actual name, that it would be easy to spell when heard and pronounce when read, and that it not have been popular in the last 50 years.

My daughter is called Skye. Short and sweet, not a diminutive, pretty but not flowery. We have a convoluted surname so wanted something 'easy' and her middle name is pretty and flowery. It is original enough for her to be the only Skye in the school, but there is another girl in our town with the same name so it's not totally nutty. We aren't hippies, we just liked the name and it suits her well.

Yay! Love all this baby name fun! As a 31-year old gravida zero who has been obsessed with names for most of my life (now, sadly, fed by the internet!), I am happy to pass along some fantastic resources that I love but haven't quite made use of yet. :) First and foremost, Swistle Baby Names (http://swistlebabynames.blogspot.com/) is an amazing baby name blog. Swistle is a pretty kick-ass chick, and you can get a lot of ideas from searching for a name on her blog or simply reading a bunch of entries. HER go-to name source, available both in book format and highly mind-boggling website/search engine-ish thing is The Baby Name Wizard (http://www.babynamewizard.com/). The book version (and probably the web subscription) does a much better job than the free site of helping you categorize names/pair sibling name styles/etc. And, finally, the coup de grace: The Social Security Name Site: http://www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/babynames/ Yes, the government has a baby name site, one I consider FANTABULOUS because (for us science nerds), it gives stats! Want to know the top 10, top 100 or top 1000 names last year? Volia! Also, you can see HOW MANY babies and even WHAT PERCENT of babies were given a certain name in a particular year (e.g., 761 BEAUs born in the U.S. last year, or 0.0374% of baby boys!), and you can also see top names for each state (which can make a big difference -- e.g., "Grace" = #21 in New York but #55 in Georgia). Since you like names with a hint of old-fashioned flair, you can also look at the top 10 or top 100 or even top 1000 baby names of any year after 1879. Also, if you look up a name, it'll show ones that are similar in spelling -- e.g., Tess was #810 last year, but Tessa was #221.

To add in my $0.02, of the names already mentioned, one of my favorites is Gwen (sooo underused -- not in the top 1000 since 1981!); Tess, Lane, Paige, and Brynn are great with your boys' names and the surname as well. (I would second "Ivy" but probably not for the daughter of 2 docs in the surgical realm. :) Not sure if I saw these above, but how about:Rae ReeseSage

Some two-syllable names that I didn't see above & might fit your sib-set & style:IrisDaphneGemma (has the British heritage thing going for it!)Bridget or Brigid SydneyDarcy (kind of love this one for you guys -- a good combo of tough and Victorian-era-sounding!)HeleneAdele (love it, and it's #908 -- less popular than the name "Princess" -- but might start skyrocketing with the popularity of the singer)SkylerKendraDanaHazelHeidiIslaEden or EdieAbbyAudrey or Audra or AubreyElyseBrielleScarlettRachelSelmaLizaTaraSonya/SoniaMillie/Milly (if you're OK w/repeating an initial)

And since you mentioned that it might be cute to do an Italian name for a girl, Gia would be a good one with the boys' names. As for a German name, my pick would be Renata.

Lots of luck with the naming process! Can't wait to hear what you choose!

Some seriously ugly names being suggested here! Yuck! Just because Michelle has named her boys slightly less common names, it doesn't mean she wants to name her daughter any random string of letters that one can put together! Ew!

I think that Claire would be a perfect name to go with Mack and Cal. Cal, Mack and Claire. Simple, pretty, old-fashioned, unoffensive.

Delurking to add this silly idea: name her June/July (err, go with Julia if she's born in July) for the month she'll be born in, then call her Meimei! Because that's her Chinese family name and it's a PUN on her English name, get it because it sounds like May May oh man I am so funny. DO IT.

Lilah. June. Jane. Ruth. Sarah. Leah. Lee. Diane. FYI, my (Jewish, caucasian) daughter is named Lilah and people always ask me if we meant for it to "sound Asian." Not sure what's up with that really...

What about Leda? And wow, this must be the most comments I've ever seen for any post you've had. Good luck choosing the name! (I heard it's almost always an even harder decision for parents than deciding on having the baby in the first place!)

May I suggest? www.nymbler.comYou can put in inspiration names (in this case, your boys' names), then choose the gender you are searching for and it will bring up names in a similar style. You can add other inspirations, and then click on the red circle/cross thing for the names that are horrible and clearly belong to reality TV stars. You can keep clicking more names at the bottom and it will continue to refine your list. This really helped with my daughter. Try it, seriously.

So funny, we just adopted a dog and have been obsessing over her name all weekend. I think Jess, Nell and Gwen are the closest to "fitting" your criteria, although I am partial to Jane since that's what I named my daughter! And for you guys I like Lee. Rarely used anymore and simple, elegant and Cal, Mack and Lee Walrath sounds good.

Oh my gosh, i love naming babies. Looks like I'm not the only one either. It seems you like nickname-proof names with an old-time feel. I can't go through all the comments, so sorry if there is repetition. I suggest:ElleHattieLena Lou (LOVE this for you!)SadieWillaZoeYou can go on the social security website to see how popular names are. For example, Ava and Mia are in the top 10 right now. Cal was not in the top 1000 (unranked) in the last 12 years, and Mack is unranked (well, ranked 979 in 2009), too. Not sure how much this matters to you. Go to: http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames

Ghana/Gana isn't necessarily such a bad idea for a name...After all, India has long been used as a girl's name in England. And, of course, there is Brooklyn, Paris, Austin... and the multiple Scottish islands that are used as girl's names...Do not shun the forward thinking Hipster that Cal is clearly becoming ;-)

Shay/ Shae Walrath. Maëlle Walrath (umlaut optional if English Canada is anything to go by). Thanks to Olympic snowboarders for making those trend a bit in Canada.

Neko/Nico is a fave lately here also.

Anick/Annique/Annika (Ann or Nick/ Nika for short, again, for Nika emph. is on the last syllable) are popular in Quebec and other French regions (Ottawa, New Brunswick). Emphasis there is on the second syllable or even, never on the first, even among Anglos.

I think Leea would be perfect for your little girl. It comes from Lea/Leah which means 'delicate' (I think), but with an extra e that makes it a bit more interesting and unusual but still simple.Besides...Cal, Mack and Leea sounds really nice ;)

I suggest Kay.Simple, not difficult to pronounce or understand, not exactly common but not too crazy either. I also like the sounds of Leigh, or could be Lee (but then maybe when she's 35 she'll start getting letters addressed to Mr. Lee Walrath - and that's no good.)

You're probably sick of all the suggestions by now, but what about Dana/Dayna? I like how it's still a girly name, but according to the internet, can be used for a boy's name too. And since you were originally told that she was 99% a boy, it's kinda cute. But I like Lea too. =)

Ava, Grace, Quinn, Eve all seem very classic. I like Olive, too. It has a quirkiness to it that goes along with Cal and Mack and the whole turn-of-the-century thing.Girl names are hard. I've always loved Bonnie for some reason, so I figure if I ever have a little lady in my life, I will probably call her that.

Not sure if it's been suggested but, how about Zoe? To be pronounced like toe, not Zoe-y. I'm suprised by all the Cora suggestions. It will be the name of our first daughter, should we have one, and I stole it (wild embarassment) from Cat Cora, Disney/celeb chef. I thought it was sooooo original. Still not changing it, but pouting a little. Okay, a lot.

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